Affordability

Mary Doyle believes in
Affordability

Working Oregonians are doing everything right, and still struggling.

Raise wages by strengthening labor protections, supporting collective bargaining, and enforcing overtime and wage theft laws.
Tie the minimum wage to regional cost of living, recognizing rural housing, energy, and transportation costs.
Support predictable scheduling and fair classification so workers can plan their lives.
Protect tipped workers and service employees from sub-minimum wage exploitation.

Economic principle: If someone works full-time, they should not live in poverty.

The tax code is upside down, and families are paying the price.

Close loopholes that allow large corporations and the ultra-wealthy to pay lower effective tax rates than teachers, nurses, and trades workers.
Restore progressive taxation, including higher marginal rates on extreme wealth and windfall corporate profits.
End subsidies and tax giveaways to corporations that offshore jobs, automate without community investment, or extract local resources without reinvestment.
Protect and expand tax credits that benefit working families and small businesses, not hedge funds.

Economic principle: Taxes should reward productive work, not speculation and avoidance.

Local economies thrive when money circulates locally.

Expand access to capital for small businesses, family farms, and rural entrepreneurs, especially first-time owners.
Enforce antitrust laws to break up monopolies that crush independent grocers, ranchers, timber operators, and contractors.
Strengthen right-to-repair so farmers and small operators aren’t locked into predatory service contracts.
Prioritize local procurement in federal spending, keeping taxpayer dollars in our communities.

Economic principle: Small businesses create more stable, community-rooted jobs than corporate consolidation ever will.

The economy cannot function when basic needs are unaffordable.

Treat housing as infrastructure: invest in affordable housing, workforce housing, and rural construction capacity.
Crack down on corporate housing speculation that drives up rents and prices.
Reform student loan debt, including fixed low interest rates, meaningful forgiveness, and an end to predatory servicing.
Protect consumers from junk fees, price gouging, and abusive financial practices.

Economic principle: An economy built on permanent debt is not a healthy economy.

Public investment should create public good.

Invest in water systems, wildfire resilience, broadband, roads, schools, and healthcare access, especially in rural districts.
Ensure infrastructure dollars create good-paying union jobs, not low-wage contract labor.
Require transparency and accountability for all federal investments, no blank checks for corporations.

Economic principle: Public money must deliver public value.

Growth without guardrails hurts communities.

Require full cost accounting for large-scale data centers and extractive industries, including impacts on water, energy, housing, and local infrastructure.
Prevent corporations from externalizing costs onto rural communities while privatizing profits.
Ensure technology investment supports local jobs, grid stability, and long-term sustainability, not short-term speculation.

Economic principle: Innovation must serve people, not strip communities of resources.

Cliff Bentz consistently supports:

I stand for:

Accountability before ideology.